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VANIA»AND«HIS»FAMILY 



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PHILADELPHIA 
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9 



PENN OF PENNSYLVANIA AND HIS FAMILY.* 

William Penn the Founder was a man who is either much 
beloved and esteemed, or else, on the other hand, condemned 
and criticized. I know of no author who has taken what may 
be termed the narrow, middle line in judging of his merits or 
faults, if we are willing to admit of the latter having existed. 
To some writers, as, for instance, Macaulay, it has seemed 
impossible that a man could hold and sincerely believe in the 
religious convictions attributed to Penn, and yet, at the same 
time, maintain his influence at the most corrupt court of Europe 
of the seventeenth century, where " back-stair " influences, 
admittedly, predominated. 

On the other hand, one cannot but believe that any man 
born in Penn's circumstances and condition in life, with his 
position at court, with his great wealth, with his connections 
amongst the oldest peers of the realm, surrounded from his 
earliest infancy with all the luxuries of the beau-monde of that 
period, could voluntarily suffer trials, fines and imprisonment, 
tear himself away from that court wherein he might reasonably 
hope to gain all those things which ambition seeks, to turn to 
the banks of the Delaware, there to endure personal losses, 
hardships and ingratitude in the cause of others, unless he 
possessed in the highest degree that spirit of Christian charity 
whi^h seeks alone the good of its fellow-man. 

To Penn, his province was to be an asylum for the oppressed 
of all religions; to him it was "an holy experiment." In writing 
to England from his colony he says : " Had I sought greatness 
I had staid at home. Where the difference between what I am 
here, and was offered and could have been there, in power and 
wealth, is as wide as the places are." If anyone doubts his 
sincerity, let them remember that he impoverished himself for 
the good of others, and to quote from an authority : " Had he 
been careful to husband the revenues from his Irish estates ; had 
he not generously declined the imposts offered him by the first 
colonial assembly ; had he been less generous in his donations 

* A paper read January i6, 1895, by Eliza Penn-Gaskell Hancock, before the 
National Society Colonial Dames of America, at the residence of Mrs. J. Hampden 
Robb, in New York City. 



2 Penn of Pennsyha?iia atid His Family. 

of land, less charitable to the poor, and less bountiful to the 
Indians, he might have lived in affluence, escaped the extortions 
of his steward, and been saved the humiliation of imprisonment 
for debt." But I will let his obituary, issued by his friends and 
neighbors of his own monthly meeting, speak for him, " who 
are witnesses of the great self-denial he underwent in the prime 
of his youth, and the patience with which he bore many a heavy 
cross : " 

He was a man of great abilities, of an excellent sweetness of disposition, quick 
of thought and of ready utterance, full of the quahfications of true discipleship, even 
love without dissimulation, as extensive in charity as comprehensive in knowledge, 
and to whom malice and ingratitude were utter strangers — ready to forgive enemies, 
and the ungrateful were not excepted.' Had not the management of his temporal 
affairs been attended with some deficiencies, envy itself would be to seek for matters 
of accusation, and judging in charity, even that part of his conduct may be attributed 
to a peculiar sublimity of mind. Notwithstanding which, he may, without staining 
his character, be ranked among the learned, good and great, M'hose abilities are 
sufficiently manifested throughout his elaborate writings, which are so many lasting 
monuments of his admired qualifications, and are the esteem of learned and judicious 
men among all persuasions. In fine, he was learned without vanity, apt without 
forwardness; factious in conversation, yet weighty and serious; of an extraordinary 
greatness of mind, yet void of a stain of ambition; as free from rigid gi-avity as he 
was clear of unseemly levity — a man, a scholar, a friend. A minister surpassing in 
speculative endowments, whose memorial will be valued by the wise and blessed with 
the just. 

But it is not my intention to read an exhaustive paper on 
William Penn ; his life is too familiar to need repetition. I shall, 
instead, give a short sketch and a few anecdotes relating to the 
Penn family, which will, I am sure, prove more interesting. To 
go back to the beginning, the Penns, or De La Penne, were an 
ancient and patrician family of France, who accompanied Wil- 
liam the Conqueror to England, and settled upon an estate 
granted them in Buckinghamshire, which they called Penn. 
Here the family continued until 1732, when, the male line failing 
at the death of Roger Penn, the estates were transmitted, through 
his sister, to the Penn-Curzon Howes ; Richard William Penn 
Curzon-Howe, Earl of Howe, being the present representative of 
the elder branch of Penn. The latter's ancestor, John Penn, of 
Penn House, Bucks, and William Penn's ancestor, William Penn, 
of Penn's Lodge, Wilts, having been brothers. As all the world 
knows, William the Founder was the eldest son of Admiral Sir 
William Penn, one of the greatest sea commanders of his day. 



Perm of Pennsylvania and His Family. 3 

It is not generally known, however, that he was not only a blood- 
relation of John Hampden, but of the Lord Protector Oliver 
Cromwell as well, Sybella Hampden having married David Penn, 
Esq., lord of the manor of Penn in county Bucks. To the care 
of Sybyl Penn were intrusted, by Heniy VHI. of England, 
his three children, the Prince Edward and the Princesses Mary 
and Elizabeth, who all succeeded to the throne. This Sybyl was 
the daughter of the Hampden who attended Queen Catherine 
on the Field of the Cloth of Gold. 

But to return to the Admiral. His portrait, painted by 
Lely, still hangs in the great hall of the Naval Hospital at Green- 
wich, and no student of the Commonwealth, or of the reign of 
Charles H., can fail to be most familiar with his name. Pepys, 
in his famous " Diary," alludes to him constantly, and many are 
his accounts of Admiral, Lady and Mistress Peggy Penn. This 
daughter " Peggy," or Margaret, married one of the Lowthers, 
of Mask, by whom she had a son and a daughter. Her son's 
line became extinct when Sir William Lowther, dying in 1756, 
left his estate to the noble house of Cavendish, his mother 
having been Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter of the Duke 
of Devonshire, and her daughter's line when Mary Nicol, 
married to the Duke of Chandos, died leaving no issue. 
Thus, it will be seen, the only descendants of the great 
admiral are through his son, William the Founder. Amongst 
the splendid gifts given Admiral Penn for his services 
to England was a gold chain and medal, presented by Par- 
liament, now unique, as its counterpart, which was at the 
.same time awarded to Admiral Sir Francis Drake, is no 
longer in existence, Drake's heirs deeming it best to melt down 
so valuable an heirloom. The Penn medal, however, is still 
in the possession of one of his descendants, Captain Dugald 
Stuart, of Tempsford Hall and Aldenham Abbey, a great-grand- 
son of Lady Sophia Margaret Penn, by her husband, the Most 
Reverend William Stuart, Archbishop of Armagh, the second son 
of the celebrated Marquis of Bute, George HI.'s Prime Minister. 
And this reminds us that the Archbishop of Armagh was a grand- 
son of the beautiful and witty Lady Mary Wortley-Montague, 
celebrated for her travels in the Orient, her introduction of 
vaccination into England and her charming letters. It is claimed 



4 Penn of Pennsylvania and His Family. 

that she began her career as a beauty and a toast in the famous 
" Kit-Kat " Club, which was then composed of thirty-nine 
gentlemen, all strong Whigs, one of whom was the Duke of 
Kingston, Lady Mary's father. One night at a loss to find a 
new beauty to toast, he proposed his daughter, then a child of 
eight. But the company objected that they had never seen her. 
" Then you shall see her," exclaimed the father ; so little Lady 
Mary was forthwith sent for, and on her arrival was received 
with enthusiasm, pronounced a beauty, and handed around 
amongst the members, who overwhelmed her with bon-bons and 
caresses. In after years her two worst enemies were Horace 
Walpole, and the first poet of his day. Pope. Walpole, among 
other things, accuses her of having been the " dirtiest woman 
of her time," and Pope, who had once loved her madly, became 
her most malignant foe, and has attacked her in one of his satires 
under the name of" Sappho." Lady Mary died in 1762, leaving 
one guinea out of her enormous fortune to her worthless son, 
and the main part of her property to her daughter. Lady Bute, 
mother of the Archbishop of Armagh. 

The Admiral's tomb in St. Mary's, RedcliiTe, Bristol, still 
decorated with his helmet, cuirass, gauntlets, sword and several 
tattered banners taken from the Dutch, bears witness to his rapid 
promotion and reads : 

"To the just memory of Sir William Penn, Knight, and sometime General, 
born in Bristol Anno 1 62 1, Son of Captain Giles Penn several years consul for the 
English in the Mediterranean ; of the Penns of Penns Lodge, in the County of 
Wilts, and those Penns of Penn, in the County of Bucks, and by his mother from 
the Gilberts in the County of Somerset, originally from Yorkshire ; addicted from his 
youth to maritime aiTairs. He was made captain at the years of 21, Rear Admiral 
at 23 ; Vice-Admiral of Ireland at 25 ; Admiral to the Straits at 29 ; Vice Admiral 
of England at 31 and General in the first Dutch war at 32, Whence returning Anno 
1655 he was Parliament-man for the town of Weymouth ; 1660, made Commissioner 
of the Admirality and Navy, Governor of the town and Port of King sail, Vice- 
Admiral of Munster, and a member of that Provincial Counsel ; and Anno 1664, was 
chosen Great Captain Commander under his Royal Highness in that signal and most 
evidently successful fight against the Dutch fleet. Thus he took leave of the sea, his 
old element, but continued still his other employs till 1669, at which time, through 
bodily infirmities contracted by the care and fatigue of Public Affairs, he withdrew, 
prepared and made for his end and with a gentle and even gale in much peace 
arrived and anchored in his last and best port, at Wanstead, in the County of Essex 
the 1 6th day of September, 1670, being then but 49 years and 4 months old." 

" To his name and memoiy, his surviving lady hath erected this remembrance." 

It may be appropriate to note here that the ' Gilberts ' men- 
tioned in the foregoing epitaph were of the family of Sir Hum- 



Penn of Peujisylvania and His Family. 5 

phrey Gilbert, who, with his half brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, 
planted colonies in New Foundland, Virginia and North Carolina. 

Among the Admiral's estates were Worminghurst House, 
overlooking the beautiful south downs of Sussex, Ruscombe 
in Berkshire, Wanstead, and lastly Shanagary Castle, County 
Cork, Ireland. The latter is still in the possession of Peter Penn 
Gaskell, Esq. It is well known that the Admiral refused the title 
of Viscount Weymouth, as he thought his son William, in view 
of his Quaker tenets, would never consent to succeed him. 

The name of the province of Penn, at the suggestion of 
Charles II., was changed from the contemplated one of Sylvania 
to Penn-Sylvania, in honor of the Admiral, for whom Charles 
seems to have felt the warmest friendship. Indeed, this friend- 
ship descended to the son, and William was on the best possible 
terms with Charles the Second and his successor, James the 
Second. Even after the latter's flight to France Penn's wife, the 
good and beautiful Gulielma Maria, never failed at Christmas to 
visit the exiled James and his Queen at the court of St. Ger- 
main, bringing with her presents from their majesties' loyal friends 
in England. She is said to have admitted " that the revolution 
was indispensable, and what she did was from the inviolable affec- 
tion and gratitude she personally felt towards their majesties." 
This first wife of William Penn (for he was married twice) was 
the only child of Colonel Sir William Springett, an officer in 
Cromwell's army. It is interesting to note here that she was a 
friend pf the poet Milton, and we are told often cheered his 
leisure moments with her music in his retreat at Chalfont, where 
he had fled to escape the plague of London. She died in 1693, 
respected by all and sincerely mourned by her husband, who has 
left a touching tribute to her in his " Account of the Blessed End 
of my Dear Wife, Gulielma Maria Penn." From this first mar- 
riage are descended in a direct line the Penn-Gaskells, through 
William Penn's great-granddaughter, Christiana Gulielma Penn, 
who married Peter Gaskell, of England, of the Gaskells of 
Gloucestershire, a kinsman of the Herberts, Earls of Powis and 
Lords of Semphill, she being the last descendant of the Founder 
by his first wife and sole heiress to all the valuable entailed 
estates in England and Ireland. As is the custom, the Penn and 
Gaskell arms were quartered and the name hyphenated by act 
of Parliament and royal license became Penn-Gaskell. Of Penn's 



6 Penn of Pennsylvania and His Family. 

descendants only these settled in America. Peter Penn-Gaskell, 
son of Christiana Penn, visited Pennsylvania about 1790 to look 
after some interests. Fortunately or unfortunately on his voyage 
over he encountered such severe storms that he abandoned the 
idea of ever returning to England and settled on his estate of 
" Ashwood," in Delaware county, Pa., in after years sending 
over his eldest son Thomas to attend to his then valuable estates 
in Ireland. These estates are now in the possession of his grand- 
son, Peter Penn-Gaskell, of England. 

William Penn was not the only member of his family to 
whom colonial grants were made. Lord Culpeper, His Majesty's 
Governor of Virginia, and Sir Ferdinando Gorgas (Gorges), 
Baron Wraxall, proprietors of Maine, were his kinsmen. Penn 
also interested in the colonies his friend Robert Barclay, of Ury, 
the famous Apologist of the Quakers, eldest son of Colonel 
David Barclay and a grandson of Alexander Gordon, eleventh 
Earl of Sutherland by his wife Lady Jean, daughter of George, 
Earl of Huntley. Robert Barclay was created colonial governor 
of East Jersey for life, and in after years we find the grandson of 
William Penn, another William, marrying the granddaughter 
of Governor Robert Barclay. 

One of the last descendants of Penn to bear his name was 
Granville John Penn, of Stoke Poges Park, Buckinghamshire, 
who visited Pennsylvania in 185 i, a descendant of Penn's second 
wife, Hannah Callowhill. His father was one of the most learned 
laymen of his time, and has left many books that testify to his 
ability as an author. He was moreover a grandson of the beau- 
tiful Lady Juliana Fermor, daughter of the Earl of Pomfret, at 
once the admiration and despair of the famous Horace Walpole. 
Lady Sophia Fermor, the eldest sister of Lady Juliana Penn, 
was equally beautiful and resembled the far-famed mistress Ara- 
bella Fermor, the heroine of Pope's " Rape of the Lock." In 
his account of a ball at Sir Thomas Robinson's, Horace Walpole 
writes : " There was Lady Sophia, handsomer than ever, but a 
little out of humor at the scarcity of minuets. However, as 
usual, dancing more than anybody, and as usual, too, she took 
out what men she liked or thought the best dancers." At this 
time the " Pomfrets," as Horace calls them, were the very pink 
of fashion, " and even the leaders of all that was exclusive at 



Penn of Pennsylvania and His Family. y 

court." The Earl of Pomfret had been Master of the Horse to 
Queen Caroline and Lady Pomfret, Lady of the Bed-chamber. 

The two principal estates of Granville John Penn, Stoke 
Pogis and Pennsylvania Castle on the island of Portland, deserve 
some notice. The castle on the latter estate was built while John 
Penn was governor of the island, and the grounds were beauti- 
fully laid out by him at great expense. To add to their natural 
beauties they possessed the additional charm of a ruin called 
Bow-and-Arrow Castle, said to have been built by King Arthur 
of the Round Table. 

Among the portraits of John Penn in Pennsylvania Castle 
was one in full court dress, as he was always in attendance on 
George III. during his frequent visits to the near resort of Wey- 
mouth. Another portrait was in military array, at the head of 
the Portland troop of horse which he organized in prospect of 
the threatened invasion of England by Napoleon Bonaparte. It 
was also John Penn who built " Solitude " on the Schuylkill, and 
it was his coach, too, that was used by Washington at the 
inauguration in Philadelphia. So much has already been writ- 
ten about Stoke Pogis that I hesitate to rewrite its many charms. 
The present dwelling stands in full view of Windsor Castle, in an 
extensive park, and is built in the Italian style, then copied 
extensively by Vyett. It is beautiful and impressive, and, in the 
Penns' days, possessed a valuable library, now in the Bodliean 
Library at Oxford. Conspicuous amongst its treasures was the 
original manuscript of Gray's " Elegy," which was inspired and 
written in the churchyard of Stoke Park. It is in this church- 
yard that the poet lies buried, not far from the "yew tree's shade" 
mentioned in his famous poem. And in the park John Penn 
erected a sarcophagus on a pedestal, which bears on one side 
these lines : 

" Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn, 

Muttering his wayward fancies, he would rove. 
Now drooping, woeful, wan, like one forlorn. 

Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love. 
One morn I missed him on the customed hill; 

Along the heath and near his favorite tree; 
.\nother came, nor yet beside the rill, 

Nor on the lawn, nor at the wood, was he." 

And on another are his lines " On a Distant Prospect of Eton 
College." 



8 Penn of Pennsylvania and His Family. 

In 1850 the government wished to purchase Stoke 
Pogis as a residence for the Prince of Wales, but the idea 
was abandoned. Later, on account of its easy distance from 
Windsor Castle, it was thought of as a residence for the ex- 
Empress Eugenie ; but the price asked was too high, and it is 
now in possession of a wealthy merchant of London. The Great 
Faculty Pew of the Penns' in Stoke Church, which they occupied 
as lords of the manor, is rather rare even in England at the 
present time. It is divided from the nave by an open screen, 
and has a private entrance, a large fire-place and rows of uphol- 
stered chairs. The old sexton's wife, who showed me through 
the church, assured me " it is just as in Granville Penn's time." 
The Penn vault is situated about the centre of the church, and 
there are many hatchments, mural tablets, etc., to the Penns', 
the Howard-Vyse's and the Godolphin Osborn's, the Duke of 
Leeds being the lay impropriator. Here lie many of the descend- 
ants and an ancestor of the great Quaker, Penn. Within a 
stone's throw of the church, and in the park grounds, is the old 
manor-house of Stoke, which was occupied by the lords of the 
domain, until the building of the great white colonnaded house, 
which is now occupied instead. The old manor-house was built 
in Elizabeth's reign, by Sir Edward Coke, son-in-law of the 
great Lord Burleigh, whose nod could shake a State. Queen 
EHzabeth was splendidly entertained by Sir Edward here in 
1 60 1, and when she left he presented her with jewels worth 
more than a thousand pounds. Here, too, in the old manor- 
house was imprisoned the unfortunate Charles I., while he 
remained in the custody of the Parliamentary army for some 
days in 1647. Later, the place became a property of Sir Robert 
Gayer, a staunch Jacobite, who, when William III. wished to 
look over his house, refused, saying, " He has already got 
possession of one man's house. He is a usurper. He shall not 
come within these walls." And so "Dutch William" was forced 
to retire. Very little of the old building still remains. However, 
there are one or two interesting apartments, the most impres- 
sive being the beautifully paneled banqueting-hall. The scene 
of Gray's " Long Story " was laid at Stoke manor, and it was 
here he wrote the " Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College," 
and the " Hymn to Adversity." 



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